Grandpa and the Violin

I asked Dad (Don) today what he remembered about Grandpa and the violin. He said that when Grandpa was just out of high school, he got appendicitis. While he was recovering, he couldn't help on the farm, so his dad sent him to St. Michael's College in Kansas for a year to study. One of the things that he learned there was how to play the violin and played with the music students there. Then when he came back to Carroll, he would play with different orchestras for church groups or at dance halls. He would play with Norbert Stork (Grandma's brother) who also played the violin. Dad said he doesn't remember Grandpa playing the violin when they were kids; every once in a while he would take it out and run the bow across the strings, but it was like he was trying to remember how to play it. He played the harmonica also, but didn't play this much when they were kids either. Too bad it wasn't something he kept up; that would have been neat to here.

Kraus Family Celebrating 50th Wedding Anniversary

Annette, Mike, Barb, Darlene, Donna, Debbie

MaryLou and Merle

The anniversary party was fun. It's been a while since we've seen some of the cousins so we had some good laughs while we reminisced and caught up on each other's lives. We were especially impressed that you were able to display both the bridesmaid dress and the flower girl dress along with your wedding dress!

Schettler "Kids" at Merle and MaryLou's 50th Anniversary Party.

April Assignment - Clarification

When I said that the April assignment was to write your Grandma memories, I was being egocentric. What I really meant was to write you favorite memories of Florentine Schettler. So, this means that I would love to hear from all of her children. I am sure there are lots of great memories that you all have. Let's have 'em!

dawn's grandma and grandpa memories...

I, too, come from the generation that only remembers the house in Carroll. It was always packed with people and we were usually shooed either upstairs, down or outside to get us out of the way...

Food:
There was always tons of food. I believe my first introduction to Little Debbie snack cakes (and the only place I ever got them) was at Grandma's. More than anything I remember agonizing about what to eat from the array of goodies cause I knew I wasn't going to get to try them all without a stomach ache. Which I often had anyway. And it was a happy day when I graduated to being old enough to use the funky tv trays.

As for Grandma's own cooking, it all boils down to the one time I remember her coming to have Thanksgiving with us in Storm Lake. She made sweet potato balls and they rocked my world. I only had them once but man were they good. Years later I did finally remember to track down the recipe from her and have since added them to my own Thanksgiving dinner menu.

Upstairs:
Even when we knew it was going to be freezing cold (since it was not heated in the winter) or scorching hot (not airconditioned in the summer), it was always a great time playing upstairs. Poor Grandma, I am sure we left that place in such a disarray becuase we would get into absolutely EVERYTHING to see what treasures we could find. And the absolute best was the old school wheeled chair upstairs. Hours of entertainment and I am sure hours of worry for the parents that we would send someone down the steps in it...

The Backyard:
It's not even that big of a back yard and I don't remember playing true games - although I do remember Elaine's 40th birthday being celebrated back there - but it was still a good time. Lot's of lillies of the valley. LOT'S of them. Plus playing in the "woods" as we called the trees and plants on the slope. The adults had us sufficiently trained not to eat the red berries we found but we would always have to grind them up into a nasty looking "stew" in the one tree perfectly shaped for a kettle. Yes, I also remember the neighbors swimming pool or should I say swimming ool (no p in it and they would like to keep it that way) which was probably why we liked to torment the kids who lived next door. They had a pool and we didn't...

Games and Toys:
Hours were spent playing with the old Monopoly set which is the only one I know of perfectly equipped with a gizillion 500's which is exactly what you needed playing with about 6 people. You also can't go wrong with the wooden houses and hotels...

Martin, you are absolutely right about the printer paper. There was always a huge stack of it and I for one never questioned where it came from or why it was there. I just remember the zen of tearing the perforated edges off...

Lisa, if I ever find Password and get your name at Christmas, it is so coming your way. I know you already have Mastermind which you were always making me play.

Checkers. I always ended up playing checkers with Grandpa. And he always let me win. "You are getting too good for me" was his standard line. Knowing how much I suck at checkers, he must have been bored out of his mind letting me win over and over and over.

And finally, I will apologize now for the times you all had to listen to me playing the violin - which was Grandpa's - when I was just learning. It was a happy day when I could finally go to their house clutching sheet music for Turkey In the Straw in my hand because every time I would take the violin that is the one song Grandpa would request.

grandpa and his littlest girl

Still working on my Grandma and Grandpa stories so I thought I would throw this up - my favorite picture of dad holding Charlotte when they were out. I gotta tell ya, nothing more entertaining than seeing my parents fight over who gets to hold the baby...

Grandpa's poem about Grandma, as told by Leo

Dad here.
Dad there.
Dad on the water.
Dad married the sweetest girl:
John Stork's daughter.

Norm & Diane's Grandchildren

Norm & Diane's Grandchildren - Happy Easter!

Easter at Tony and Christy House in Breda

Back Row: Brooke & Hannah (Mark's Twins) and Madison (Tony)

2nd Row: Emma (Ann), Ashlyn (Tony), Alex (Ann), Sam (Ann)

Front Row: Ben (Ann)

Missing: Kristen (Tony) in college and Laura (Dave) in Georgia

My Grandma memories

My best memories are of the farm too. It was fun visiting after they moved to Carroll but not the same as spending time on the farm. There was so much we could get into out there! I remember poking around in the "boys" rooms too. They had model cars they had made sitting on shelves or something and we LOVED playing with those (I recall them being tan in color?) I hope we didn't break any of that stuff for Leo or Marvin or whoever made them. (If we did, I offer my profound apologies for being a brat.) I also recall a big closet at the top of the stairs where Grandma kept toys. At the end of our visit we were supposed to clean up all the toys we'd taken out of there and put everything away. It took us forever to clean up because we weren't done playing yet and we wanted to stay at Grandma's house.

I recall spending a few summer nights overnight at the farm when Elaine was still in high school. Donna and I somehow got the priviledge of sleeping in Elaine's bed with her and we drove her crazy with our giggling and nonsense late into the night. We called her "Lainey-bony". Again, my apologies to Elaine this time. I truly have outgrown my antics. (Donna hasn't, but we'll talk about that another time.) Elaine was just a cool teenager and we looked up to her. I remember the dog named "Ralph" whose toenails clicked on the hard floors in the house, and wasn't there a semi-tame squirrel that would eat out of Elaine's hand but us kids were told to leave it alone or it might bite. Elaine also took us for walks past the "haunted house" up the road!!

I also have memories of you aunts and uncles when you were fairly newly married. I remember both Fran and Diane being pregnant. A lot. Often at the same time. Which meant there was usually new little baby cousins to coddle over. Rodney was a cute cute baby- such a doll. And little David called his dad "Norman" instead of Dad one day, which cracked us up. Well, I could go on and on. What great memories to have.

Memories of Grandma

Most of my memories are not from the house in Carroll, but from the farm. I remember more about playing outside and running between the evergreen trees along the road. Playing with the baby white face lambs behind the house and letting them suck on your fingers or getting the opportunity to bottle feed them for Grandpa. Remember the big white Adirondak chairs in the yard or at least they seemed big to me. You could sit two of us in one chair but it was better when you had the chair all to yourself.

I remember Grandma didn't like us to go upstairs because those were the boys' and Elaine's bedrooms and she said we didn't need to be in those rooms. That made it seem like some kind of mystery which made you want to go up there even more and I did. But I always walked very quiet so Grandma wouldn't hear me and I'd peek into all the bedrooms to see what the mystery was about. I could never figure out why or what it was that she didn't want us to see. It didn't dawn at me at the time that it was because it was somebody's bedroom and it was kind of private.

I remember, too, going down to the basement where Norman and Marvin did woodwork and seeing all the wood shavings on the floor. I would pick them up off the floor because they looked like ringlets when you held them up. And the smell of freshly cut wood was nice, although I don't remember anything they were making. Wasn't there a pool table down there too?

Grandma kept a piano in her and Grandpa's bedroom and that was fun to play on. But I think Mom and Grandma became quickly tired of listening to it because pretty soon they would make you stop and find something else to do. Usually, we went in the living room with the two pocket doors and watch TV. There was a long couch in that room that lined the entire one wall. And on the TV was this light that had a buck in a wooded area with a fire in the background. I thought it looked real until I figured out how it worked.

Grandma always kept coloring books and crayons and games in the big buffet in the dining room. There was a big oil burning stove in that room and it was always nice and warm in there during the winter. My best memory is building lego houses with Grandma in the kitchen. The legos were all red and there were windows and doors that opened and shut. We would put a green roof on the house and then finish it with a red brick chimney.

And all you Aunts and Uncles--I remember when you all were still dating each other! In fact, I remember Uncle John being in the army. I don't know how I remember that because I had to have been pretty little at the time. And Elaine was still young enough to play with us.

After Grandma and Grandpa moved to town, Grandpa had his stroke. Grandpa cried a lot when we came to visit and Grandma and Mom told us to tell him not to cry. Grandpa was a wicked Scrabble player. He always made up words and convince us grandkids that they were really words until Mom caught him doing it. Grandpa told Mom that it was in the dictionary and to look it up. We never could find the word and Grandpa told us that was an old dictionary. Grandpa played Scrabble one handed since his other hand was paralized. I don't remember much else except coming for Christmas and all the cousins were all there too. We played in the basement but it always seemed kind of cold down there, so it didn't seem as much fun.

My last visit was when my twin sons were 18 months old and we went to visit Grandma and introduce Nathan and Ryan to her. The last time I saw Grandma though was at the Schettler family picnic about 6 years ago. I had forgotten how tiny of a woman she was, but she had a very big presence in our lives.

Hi from Kathy

I figured out how to sign in anyway. I enjoyed seeing what everyone had to say. I hope everyone has thier taxes done.

It was good to see so many of you at Grandma's funeral. Florentine was always such a gracious, kind lady. She was certainly the perfect mother-in-law.

Martin's grandma memories

• Every time we'd go to grandma's, Dad (Leo) would say to her "we're not sure when we'll get there, so we'll just pick up some KFC for dinner," and every time grandma would have some kind of food made, ready to go on the stove. (How did she rememeber to take the cereal out of the oven before preheating??)
• Always a wide assortment of sweets atop the fridge. Oh how sweet a day when we could reach it!
• Always dot-matrix printer paper in the closet for us to color on, and markers and crayons. I never did find that dot-matrix printer she evidentally had hidden away somewhere.....
• Hundreds of domino falls! It took years till i learned that there was actually a game involving dominoes lying flat, and not on end... i never quite got into it though. :)
• It seemed that if she wasn't cooking, she was on that couch with the magnifying glass, making a rosary.
  
• And, of course:
  
• Freshly-pressed 2-dollar bills in birthday cards
  

Nathan Stepp (Debbie and Sidney's son and Ryan and Aaron's brother) receiving Reserve Champion at Southern Appalachian Science and Engineering Fair at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, April 3-6, 2006. Nathan's science project was "Robotics".

Darlene's in!

Thank you Lisa for helping blog-illerate people like me join in! I'm at work so I shouldn't be blogging right now but couldn't resist trying it. Anyway, hello Schettler family!

Schettler Family History Site

I found this site yesterday by accident looking for something completely different - usually how it happens.

Anyway here it is:
http://our-kin.com/Nieland/Ancestry/MariaAngelaNieland.htm

It has very good Schettler History but does need some updating with all the children being born in the family. Just email the address at the bottom of the site with corrections or additions. I emailed to make corrections on Tony and all the extra kids they gave us :) and she emailed me back already and wanted me to pass the site on to the family.

Christy (Tony)

The Last Days of Florentine Agnes Schettler

1910 - 2006

Around the first of March, 2006, Mom was having some trouble breathing and was feeling “kinda trembly” as she described it. So Norm and Diane took her to the hospital for a checkup. The doctor reported that it seemed Mom had had a silent heart attack some weeks prior and that her heart was weakened. He reported that she had congenital heart disease and should have some time to recover in a nursing home. Norm and Diane brought her to the Carroll Health Center Nursing Home.

Mom spent about a month in the nursing home before we met with the staff from the St. Anthony Hospice staff and we all agreed she should come home and die in her own home. Her doctor predicted that she would only live another week. Her lungs were filling with fluid and there was some bleeding in her colon. The Hospice people were very good and so accommodating to her needs and our needs. So Mom came home on Thursday, March 23, to die.

While she was home, she spent much of the day in bed. The Hospice people brought in a special hospital bed for her. She had many many coughing spells throughout the day and night and could not seem to clear her lungs. She said it hurt in her chest when she coughed. After one particularly difficult coughing spell she asked, “Why do I have to suffer so?”

On Friday morning I got her up and walked her to the bathroom. Then I walked her back to her bedroom and helped her into her chair. I wheeled her out to the living room by the television where a Mass was being televised. I thought she might enjoy that. I left her there and told her I was going to go fix her some breakfast. She replied, “Oh hell, I should be fixing YOU breakfast.”

Her first two nights at home were very restless and uncomfortable for her. She was still able, however, to walk from her bedroom to the bathroom with someone's assistance. She could also sit up at the table with the rest of us and eat a full meal. She had a good appetite.

We could see her weakening each day. All of her children dropped in to visit with her over the first two days she was home. We even had Chinese food for dinner with her that night. After dinner, we helped her to bed. One of the last things she said that night before Diane and I left the room was “I’m not afraid.” She made this comment very deliberately and her words made me feel at peace. We prayed the Angels Prayer with her and then left her to sleep as we went into the living room of her house and talked and watched television.

After a short while, we heard her reciting the Angels Prayer again to herself. “Angel of God my guardian dear. To whom Gods love commits me her. Ever this day be at my side to light, to guard, to rule and guide me safely home.” After a few minute she repeated the prayer again. And then about five minutes later, she said it a third time.

That night, her third night at home, Saturday night, was extremely quiet and restful. She did not move from her sleeping position at all throughout the night; for twelve straight hours she did not budge. Her sleeping was quiet and peaceful, with no coughing or restlessness as she had been the prior two nights. John and I stayed at the house with her that night. I checked on her every two hours throughout the night and noticed that she had not moved even a little and that her breathing was not labored or difficult. I have to say that several times during that night, it seemed to me that she was not really there, not in her body, but somewhere else. Perhaps she was deep inside, or maybe she was out looking in the windows of heaven. I don’t know, but I truly believe she was “out” somewhere.

All night long, I could hear her oxygen flowing in a way that indicated to me that the tubes were not positioned correctly in her nostrils. It seemed to be blowing gently against her cheek instead. This worried me a little but she was resting so soundly each time I checked on her that I decided not to disturb her by adjusting them.

At 7:30am, I went into her bedroom and touched her forehead. She became immediately conscious and alert. She opened her eyes and had a look on her face and in her eyes that was different from what I had ever seen before. There was a look of intensity about the need to communicate, as well as a look of serenity as if she had come to final terms with her mortality. She seemed intent on talking and connecting with John and me as we stood at her bedside. Her voice had a tone of finality and warmth to it. “God love ya”. “Jesus, Mary and Joseph, God in Heaven.” “God love you.” “May God bless you. May God bless all of my children, each and every one, each and everyone.” “God is Love. God is Love”. “I’m sorry if I have kept you awake; I’m sorry I’ve been so much trouble.” “Ninety-five good long years. This is it. This is life. Good-bye. Good-bye. Say good-bye to everyone. I love you. I love all my children.”

I held her hand throughout all of this and said “good-bye” to her and told her I would say good-bye to everyone for her. She repeated many of these comments over the next few minutes until finally she laid her head back on her pillow, closed her eyes and rested quietly. John left to find Norm and Diane and bring them back so they too could hear Mom’s words, but when they arrived, Mom had finished saying what she needed to say.

The Hospice Aid, Marcie, soon arrived and helped Mom get cleaned up and dressed for the day. Mom was still able to arch and adjust her body as she was being washed to make it easier for Marcie. Diane fixed her a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast which she was able to feed herself. “Good oatmeal” she said to Diane. I believe these were her last words.

After breakfast she sat in her chair for a while and then she was put back in her bed. John and I went to mass in Maple River and brought her back a communion host which John broke into small pieces for her and she ate it. This was her last food.

As the day went on she grew weaker and weaker. By noon she was no longer able to form words with her mouth. All of her children came into her bedroom and one at a time they told Mom they loved her and said their good-byes. Now and then she would seem to respond by opening her eyes and smiling or trying to talk.

Vera lead us in reciting the Rosary for her. Again, she seemed to try to pray along with us but could not form the words.

As the day wore on, her breathing became more shallow and quick. The seconds that passed between exhales and inhales stretched out longer and longer until finally, at around 7:35pm, she exhaled her last, and she was gone.

Having the whole family in her house for her last day saying “I love you” and “Good-bye” to her all afternoon was a beautiful thing. It was difficult to watch her body struggle to stay alive while her spirit was trying to escape. There was a great sense of relief for her and for us when she was finally free of her body.

I will always admire the strength and courage with which our Mother faced her last day on earth. Without fear and with great love for God and her children, she marched toward the Light, and without hesitation, she walked out of her old body and straight into His waiting arms.

Grandma Memories by Lisa

The Goody Drawer
Mad Bull in the basement
Fried Chicken dinners
So many people there for Christmas that you had to step over legs to walk through the living room.
Dinging the door bell chimes and trying not to get caught.
Grandpa's hospital bed with that triangle thing - so much fun to play on!
She always had white sliced cheese.
Watching Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom and Archie Bunker (Grandpa's favorite show?!)
That one light switch that turned off the tv.
Playing Password with Patti, Nancy, and Karla.
Grandpa's card holder thing

I remember one time my parents go in "trouble" by Grandma for getting us McDonalds b/c we were late for lunch. She said, she could always make us something.

Eating off those tv trays in the living room.
Playing in the car in the garage and locking the boys out.
Calling for Megan next door and running away. (ok, we were naughty kids!)
Al's Re-memory Wall
The party line phone

I'm In!

Hey Family,
I made it in too. Thanks for the help Lisa! This should make for some fun reading. I'm not sure that I can come up with just one favorite memory of Grandma. It's just all fond memories of always feeling welcome and after they moved to town, eating chocolate chip cookies in the high stool in her kitchen. As we got older, whenever we visited, it was important to see if you could still fit into that chair! I don't want to try it now though.

Patti

Lisa Did It!

Wow! Lisa is a genius! She just walked me through this whole process and I am now IN. If I can do it, anyone can do it! So, now we need to get everyone involved. Thanks Lisa!